The Celts

[Tybalt]

Here at last is the beginning of my set down ideas about the land of the Celts, the main human antagonists in my New Edom game. Here is the discussion thread. http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?29274

 The Celts

Properly speaking this refers to a confederacy of nations under one High King. It ranges from the subarctic to the near equatorial in climate, and culturally includes tattooed barbarians as well as grand lords at high tables. What they all have in common is a general racial type as well as claim of descent from heroes who had wedded themselves to the Old Folk, the Tuatha de Dannan.

The Realms

Mag Mhor, the Royal City The most important realm of the Celts is Mag Mhor, which is both the city and the province of royalty. It is on a vast plain, quite deliberately, which has from ancient times been a sacred place of truce. Disputes have long been brought there to be judged. It is also the site of the College of the Filidh, the wise folk that includes druids, bards, legalists and physicians. For centuries now it has been guarded by warriors unaffiliated with any particular clan or prince called Fianna. The Fianna pride themselves on their discipline and devotion to the Great Kingdom rather than to any particular people within it. Their numbers are always limited to 600. The Fianna are often very rich but have no property save what they can carry on their own backs and that of a strong horse and packhorse. They may not marry women of property.

Mag Mhor is one of the richest of all the lands in the Great Kingdom. It produces corn in great abundance as well as oats, hay, and great herds of cattle and pigs. Because of the truce that traditionally exists there it is known for its well fed people, handsome youths and lovely maidens and the numbers of people eager to be accepted at the college for higher education.

The heraldic beast of the current royal family is the dragon. However they have no dragon companionship at the moment, which has made people wonder if they are still fit for rulership--beast companionship (to be explained a bit later) is key to demonstrating the magical nature of aristocracy and rulership.  

Deva, the land of two peoples The Duchy of Deva partly forms the border with northern Yasg and is also a trade gateway with that Empire. Originally it was part of the Yasg Empire but was seized about 20 years ago by Anderman, a half-Yasg nobleman of great ambition who controlled the river trade leading down to the port city of Deva. It was seized from a ruling council led by witchbreed (or Psionicists) who had proved increasingly to be hidebound, insular and ritualistic to the displeasure of the increasingly powerful merchant class. They found a better patron in Anderman. The witchbreed council was set upon and destroyed--some say by supernatural creatures summoned by wizards in Anderman's service.

The city and province are fairly warm, producing rice as well as corn, and are populated by Yasgs, Celts and a blend of both races. Most of the original Celtic settlers were clanless folk who pursued trade and labour. The province also includes some islands originally settled by pirates, from whose stock Anderman was born.

The witchbreed of Deva that remain are mostly secretive or have fled to the land of Courdewayne.

The totemic beast of the Devan rulers is the manticore. Anderman keeps several as war beasts.

Courdewayne, the Summer Land The Duchy of Courdewayne is in a penninsula that hooks down south of Deva. Both lands are rivals for trade and have traditionally waged piratical war on one another.

Courdewayne is warmer, even including stretches of desert. It also is famed for orchards, for excellent fishing, for nut bearing trees and for a certain sensuality of dress and manner that is more subtle than that in the rest of the Celtic lands. Unlike in Deva however styles of Yasg dress are not imitated--Celtic traditional dress is adapted to lighter cloth.

Courdewayne is ruled by Duke Dorian, who is a kindly man who hides his retiring and generous nature under a cool demeanor. He has only reluctantly supported the war in New Edom, sending his fiery brother Obryn in his place. Dorian prefers his menagerie, his poetry and his local politics to warfare and expansion.

The beast of Courdewayne is the sea-serpent.

Fer Dhomlann, the Mountain Fastness

The Princes of the Fer Dhomlann hold the northwestern mountain border with New Edom. Their land is largely mountain valleys and while it is one of the smallest lands for population they are wealthy in mines. They have cool but businesslike relationships with the dwarvish kingdom of Svartaheim.

In ancient times this land was lived in by a bird people who apparently flew and laid eggs and built towns like swallows' colonies on the walls of the mountains. Some of these can still be found. The hero founder of the land won it in part by marrying an avian princess. Somehow the bird folk died out but the people of the Fer Dhomlann claim descent from them.

Currently the war is being carried out in the Pass of Bonn at a sort of junction between Fer Dhomlann, New Edom and Svartaheim. It is mostly raids and sneak attacks since this area has a low population and mostly windswept crags, pine forests in small valleys and the like.

The beast of the Fer Dhomlann is the giant eagle. A small cavalry of such, with telepathic bonds to their noble riders, exist as the Companions of the Prince of the Fer Dhomlann. Unfortunately the present prince is a small boy--and he's afraid of heights.

The Rigantia This wild northern region includes a number of windy islands as well as rocky hills and deep forests. The people there have a reputation of being headhunters, tatoo covered savages who howl naked into battle.

This is perhaps true of some of them--there are people apparently living in the mountains that divide Rigantia from Fer Dhomlann who live almost as orcs do--but most Rigantians are farmers, herdsmen and craftsmen. What they lack are great trade towns and cities. Most Rigantians live in fortified villages called tuaths. Orcs and wildmen as well as other wild creatures make this necessary.

The Rigantians are proud independant people who still live very much by the old ways--they elect their princes as per their favour with the goddess Rigantia, the Dannan who is their patroness. This prince may take mortal wives but is ultimately married to the land, and should he fail it he will be sacrified to appease the goddess.

The beast of the Rigantians is the giant boar. In time of war some of these are actually ridden by great warriors of the Rigantians.

This is one of the last bastions (apart from New Edom's extreme north and eastern borders) of giants in the world. These huge beings sometimes come raiding for livestock or people--they seem to eat either quite cheerfully--and it is a matter of pride for a warrior to be acclaimed for slaying one. The giants are mostly of two types--Hill Giants, who are stupid near bestial creatures and the most common--and the dread Frost Giants, three times the size of a big man and deadly cunning. The Frost Giants must live in some northern reach of the sea for they only seem to come in the coldest months, raiding and killing and robbing, then leaving as mysteriously as they came.


Rigantia's Prince is growing old but is still a fierce and cunning warrior--he has to be to keep a number of brawling cattle thieving clans under his rule. He feels the war in New Edom is foolish--an attempt at gaining magic and glory--but has sent his daughter Grania to represent the principality. Grania found to her dismay that her people were often sent as arrow fodder against the walls of Fineberg, and finally ended up refusing to follow instructions save from the King directly.

The Harlaws--Sharks of the Sea Seemingly just a group of wave battered islands, the Harlaws should be the poorest most dismal principality of the Great Kingdom. In fact the Harlaws are greatly rich, feared, and hated for being immensely successful pirates. Their submission to the Great Kingdom came from the young High King Cleothas leading a flight of dragons to burn their harbour a generation ago. However he was too ruthlessly cunning to dismiss so effective a group of seagoers and so insisted that part of their fealty should be the use of their fleet in time of war.

Unlike the other Celtic kingdoms the Harlaw rulers have an ancient pact with the undersea god Dagon the Drowned. This has made them utterly fearless on the sea--every Harlaw warrior goes through a 'rite of drowning' in which their inevitable death is faced. Various of Dagon's creatures have pacts with the Harlaw clan lords with the result that most of the flagships are strongly magicked. In spite of this sea creatures such as Sahuagin sometimes attack coastal villages or travelling ships. The Harlaws are known though to have good relations with certain elves who have settled the area and act as navigators for them sometimes. (these elves could very well be Dark Elves but how could you tell if they don't admit it?) Sea-trolls and hags as well haunt some of the smaller islands and are common subjects of horror stories during the winter months.

Those who know of such things also believe they have ties to the Yuan-Ti. Their beast is the kraken. Krakens are rare and only war itself can summon one to them. They have not yet managed to do so yet but other creatures sent by their Drowned One have helped them. Recently the Lord Harlaw was killed by Kallyn Finnhald, a New Edomite officer, during a surprise attack on his fleet near Fineberg. The fleet was mostly burned as a result of this raid. The rest of the Harlaws are currently squabbling over who will be the heir.

Cadwald, the Pleasant Land Cadwald is a temperate land to the immediate west of New Edom but barred by huge mountains. Only a small narrow pass leading gradually to the town of Westmark enables passage. To the south is the penninsula 'hook' of Courdewayne.

Cadwald itself is partly mountainous but is mostly rolling hill country and meadows. It produces some of the best horses in the world, work horses, palfreys and war horses. These are mostly bred by minor noble families.

The rulers of Cadwald are suspected to have aided in persuading the king to go to war with New Edom, mostly for reasons of land hunger. However intrigues have robbed them of their desire to control the border country. Cadwald at present is ruled by a rather traditionalist prince who loves his meat and drink but also loves war enough to have ventured into the New Edomite war. Now he is regretting it as the Celts seem to be increasingly dependant on strange magical alliances rather than their force of arms and traditional druidism.

The beast of Cadwald is the mountain cat. These are sometimes tamed for hunting, though they are very fierce and independant. The Prince of Cadwald has several.

Siluria, the disputed land Siluria is a land of a few hills that drop off into marshland and mist haunted forest in the extreme west even of Deva. It is divded into three factional groups struggling for control of it.

The first group are Yasgs, the Yasg Emperor claiming that Siluria belongs to him. These Yasgs are mostly long dwelling landlords who are finding their territory difficult to control.

The second group are Celtic warriors, most of them mercenaries in the pay of Anderman, who are trying to relieve those landlords of their homes.

The last group are an ancient Yuan-Ti led cult who are playing both groups off against one another. Siluria is one of the last bastions of the ancient Yuan-Ti empire, though few know this now. It has many old secrets, some of them very nasty, and the Yuan-Ti do a good job of guarding them. Their followers are mostly outcasts, outlaws and slaves, discounted by the two proud lordly groups fighting over the territory. It is a notorious area for the slave trade. The land is rich and could be well cultivated but base labour is needed for this.

Siluria has no proper royalty save for the Viceregal authority of the Yasg Emperor's legate, and therefore has no emblem beast. The people are a mix of Celt and Yasg.

The Kingdom of Laighin

A proud, traditionalist people, the Laighin are a landlocked folk who have an oddly insular view of the world. They are probably among the most purely 'celtic' of the Celts, their fashions, their laws and way of living most similar to that of their ancestors. While their technology is certainly on par with the most advanced nations in the world, they have very few adapations from elsewhere. The supernatural in this region is mostly in the few fae touched forests remaining, which are treated with great respect.

Laighin is fairly prosperous though not vastly rich. It certainly feeds its people well and among other things produces good flax and wool. Most of its wars have been small border disputes with Silurian clans, Rigantian clans or Devans. In spite of what must seem a very peaceful nature the kingdom is full of people who by tradition are very passionate. Duels, raids and disputes are common. Thus the people of Laighin eagerly followed the king to war--as much for something new to do as for anything else.

The beast of the Laighin is the brown bear. It is said that the aristocracy of the Laighins have a bear nature in them that comes out in time of war. The King would have gone but the archdruid of the region had a prophetic dream and advised him in full court not to go. The King is a lusty man in the prime of his life and regretted this but did not disobey the prophecy, sending his best shieldman and friend Lord Tarley to represent him. Lord Tarley has been one of the most successful commanders in the war and currently holds the garrison in Glasstower.

 

[Tybalt]

Caste System and Leadership

There are particular and general applications of caste and leadership, according to the Greater Kingdom and particular states.

First of all, in general there are the following social classes.

1. The warrior class. This includes the following.
- landless warriors, called men-at-arms (who are either mercenaries or in the service of a landholding warrior as his vassals) This is a professional warrior class but it can be lost if the person belonging to it is enslaved or they take up another profession.
- shieldmen (this applies to female warriors as well. These hold small amounts of land or livestock under the patronage of a noble. They are often the minor parts of the family clan leaders.
- clan leaders (these might have various titles, some of them coming from particular kingdoms or from lords who have inherited an old Yasg Imperial title. However their main authority comes from their rulership over a clan. Clan leaders are of various ranks including tuath leaders (of single settlements) sept leaders (over several settlements) and tribal name rulers. These last are now for the most part the dukes, princes and minor kings under the Great Kingdom.

2. The Learned Folk, the Filidh. This includes druids, bards, poets, historians, scribes and lawgivers called brehons. They must study rigorously both the relatively recent (within the last two centuries) written histories and laws as well as the ancient oral ones. Druids receive great respect and renown for the study of magic, which is connected to great respect and a sense of stewardship for the land and its gods. Bards are the main storytellers, the master musicians, poets and historians all wrapped into one--as masters of all these gifts they are honored only slightly less than druids. This class is generally considered equal to the warrior class. The highest ranking of them, the college leaders, archdruids and the like, are equal to princes.

3. The farmers, producers of life. Whether it is herding cattle, raising pigs, farming corn or whatever, producing food is high status. Farmers generally labour under the protection of tuath holding warriors and their bands/guards. While farmers may be tough and prepared to fight if they have to, they tend to only do so when the actual land they live in is threatened. They are free folk and have long held rights and privileges--indeed at public councils they speak freely. While honored a little less than warriors and the learned folk they certainly are not abashed among them.

4. The craftsmen who actually produce works of wood, metal, stone, clay, or other materials are honored a little less but are respected for their work. For the most part they pass on traditions of craft skills to their own children and marry among their own sort, and so preserve certain trade secrets. This caste has particular patron gods such as Goffanon, who bears a lot of resemblance to the Dwarvish and New Edomite god Moradin.

5. The merchant class is considered a free caste in the Celtic lands only with some reluctance. After all they make nothing, grow nothing, and do not fight in particular, nor do they teach or provide wisdom. They are often clanless folk or even foreigners and are tolerated for reasons of trade. Most are found as peddlers, caravaneers or in cities such as Deva or Courdewayne. While sometimes very rich they take care to not display their wealth too arrogantly.

6. Slaves are of two kinds--bond slaves and sword slaves. Bond slaves are more like serfs than anything else; they actually are well fed and well treated for the most part. Sword slaves are something else altogether. They are usually captives taken in general war and are sometimes sold to Yasgs or to the Free Cities. Others might be sacrificed or kept in more brutal captivity until broken.

[Tybalt]

Warfare

The concept of a large standing army is one that most celtic rulers like the idea of but find hard to put into practice. One of the major reasons for difficulty is that while there is druidic magic there is not so much of it that the average community still needs most of its manpower to raise food. The other is that the Great Kingdom is only loosely united. Succession is by no means merely guaranteed by birth and so there is a constant jockeying for position among the aristocracy.

The core concept of the Celtic army is a form of feudal allegiance. In actual practice each prince and each leader down to the tuath leaders maintains a force of warriors who patrol the region, maintain fortifications and man warships. For instance the Duke of Deva maintains his own personal fleet of warships to protect his shipping, as well as a personal guard. He requires the landed gentry and merchants of the city of Deva to contribute enough to support a city watch and wall and gate guards as well. The various minor landholding lords and sea lords also have their own troops and ships, and when he went to war he called upon their allegiance to each contribute a force to help make up his army.

Among themselves bards and druids do not take sides apart from to give counsel and in the case of bards to do songs and poems of encouragement and inspiration. They are expected though to provide judgement of laws, healing and prophecy to any who honestly ask. In actual practice though a druid or bard will often form a personal allegiance to a warlord which could make them hard to get to if clan warfare arose. In the case of war against foreign races or nations bards and druids may act freely.

The principal sources of war among the Celts are rivalry for higher position among themselves, dealing with humanoid or giant raids, and border wars with the Yasgs. The recent war with New Edom is a fairly intense conflict for the Celts and is already wearing out their interest--it is becoming increasingly clear that the war is being fought in effect by groups who want access to permanently located magics in New Edom, not for the land or wealth.

The main figure of celtic warfare is a mounted warrior, usually well armored and with hand weapons of good quality. While the Celts have produced good missile troops in their time there is a prejudice against them; they are considered cowardly and of no importance once good horse and foot troops move in on them. While ambushes and surprise attacks are common it is ultimately hand to hand combat that is admired and is considered proof of prowess in battle. The mounted warriors represent the wealthy and powerful for the most part, the vanguard of the royal armies at war.

The rank and file are infantry, who are actually minor landholders and aristocracy. They may not have great titles but all would claim goddesses and heroes in their ancestry. They may be little more than farmers who have the ancestral right to carry a sword, axe or spear into combat but they regularly gather at markets and festivals to train in bristling masses called schiltrons that follow the cavalry into battle.

At times ordinary folk must go to war, and when they do they are mostly an undisciplined mass of people used for sheer numbers, with sharpened farm tools, cudgels and slings.

Great lords such as the Duke of Deva also hire mercenaries, who are either Celts without clan or are foreigners from Yasg or even humanoids as in the present war, who will most likely form the main missile troop corps.

In the present war a siege train was put together for the attacks on Glasstower and Fineberg. In the latter case the lack of expertise was filled by goblin and hobgoblin mercenaries, who used hundreds of enslaved New Edomite peasants to make mangonels, rams and towers to assault the city. This had worked well at Glasstower but the New Edomites proved quick students and raiding parties destroyed the siege engines and slew numbers of the experts, including the spellcasters assisting them. Siege trains and engineers are a matter of indifference among the Celts normally.

[Tybalt]

Beast Companionship

There are ordinary beasts and there are magical beasts. The latter are often stronger, bigger, smarter and in some cases truly fantastic creatures. Certain of these represent a pact with the land goddesses of the Celtic realms.

In all of these cases a great hero, the founder of a particular Celtic nation would have been granted animal companionship through the favour of a land goddess. For instance the goddess Courdewayne granted Lir, the founder of that kingdom, a sea-serpent which saved his life as his ship was trapped in becalmed seas, and later fought on his behalf in a sea battle.

As long as the proper sacred rites of devotion to the goddess are carried out, and whatever geas (restrictions) are upheld properly the pact remains, and at least one such marvelous beast will serve the king of that land. In time of war sometimes entire herds, flocks or shoals of such creatures will arrive if the need is clear or invoked.

For game purposes, a Celtic warrior class type will get an appropriate beast type as an extra companion when they reach the appropriate level comparative with the creatures HD.

Land Goddesses

Land goddesses are mysterious beings of the Tuatha de Dannan who still have influence and power directly in the kingdoms of the Celts. They rarely appear directly, preferring to appear in various disguises. Their most important manifestation is through living women who embody them. These are the women who become queens of the kingdoms.

Women of divine ancestry are known of by bards of high rank, who will submit a list of them to the highest ranking druid in the land when a new king is chosen. If the king is already married to one or not is irrelevant; they must all undergo certain ancient tests of worthiness to determine their character, wisdom, beauty and courage. (these greatly resemble the 'princess' tests from fairy tales) Once she is determined to be a worthy candidate she will become aware of the goddess' will through dreams and through witnessing of strange events. She is the chief protector of the rights of women in the land and through her sexual intimacy with the king signifies the sacred bond of marriage to the land itself.

Because of the nature of the pact while it is not uncommon at all for a woman to rule a tuath, village or guild it is very rare to have a female ruler of the land. What this tends to signify is that no man has proven worthy to be king and the goddess has taken over the rulership of the land herself. These female rulers tend to be mighty spellcasters, or at least to quickly learn such powers from the goddess herself. At such times the land's magic becomes more manifest.

[Matt Larkin (author)]

For instance the goddess Courdewayne granted Lir, the founder of that kingdom, a sea-serpent which saved his life as his ship was trapped in becalmed seas, and later fought on his behalf in a sea battle.

Because of the nature of the pact while it is not uncommon at all for a woman to rule a tuath, village or guild it is very rare to have a female ruler of the land. What this tends to signify is that no man has proven worthy to be king and the goddess has taken over the rulership of the land herself. These female rulers tend to be mighty spellcasters, or at least to quickly learn such powers from the goddess herself. At such times the land's magic becomes more manifest.[/quote]
Sounds like a hook for an interesting NPC and mini adventure.

[Tybalt]

It is possible for a Celtic warrior type pc to have two companions; for instance a ranger of the Courdewayners at the right level could have a sea serpent and some other kind of sea beast as companions.

[Wensleydale]

How long have royal families ruled the great kingdom? And, how does the king keep control of all the other provinces? It seems to me that if they desired, provinces could break off and become independent. Does this happen at all?

Oh, also. Did I pick up slight A Song of Ice and Fire references in there? :P